1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for transmitting and receiving electronic mail which displays map information corresponding to a place name included in transmitted electronic mail, on a receiver communication terminal.
2. Background Art
Systems with communication terminals installed in mobile stations or in fixed stations that transmit location information of a station to another station and display the location on a displayed map of the communication terminal receiving the information, have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 3-126199 discloses a vehicle information display system which repeatedly and periodically transmits information of a user vehicle (such as information regarding a present location, a traveling direction, a speed, etc.) to other vehicles, looks up information of other vehicles (such as information regarding present locations, traveling directions, speeds, etc.) within a predetermined area with respect to the user vehicle as a center, and displays the locations, traveling directions, and speeds of the other vehicles as well as the location of the user vehicle on a displayed map based on the information received.
Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 4-111543 discloses a navigational location system which refers to a sender information database based on a sender's telephone number in an electric wave transmitted from a pocket bell transmitter station, specifies and displays a name and an address of the sender on a display, and indicates the location of the sender on a map displayed with a mark.
Further, Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 4-204590 discloses a vehicle navigation device, which transmits present location information of a user vehicle, receives present location information of other vehicles, and displays the present locations of the user vehicles and of the other vehicles on a displayed map based on the present location information of the other vehicles. The vehicle navigation device is constructed so that a reduced scale is selectable on the displayed map to include present locations of all other vehicles in the map.
Exchange of electronic mail by means of a network between devices such as computers has become very popular in recent years. Information included in the electronic mail is communicated in the form of a text message. When a place is specified in the electronic mail, informing the receiver of the place through the text messages is often impossible.
The systems stated above can basically handle only location information. For example, the systems have disadvantages in that the contents of the messages become deficient because they cannot transmit text messages. Further, the systems have other disadvantages in that it is impossible to communicate places having no relation to the locations of the communication devices because places in which communication to communication terminals can be made is limited to the locations of the communication terminals.